Day #5

About 24-hours before leaving Guanajuato on a luxury bus, heading for San Miguel de Allende (San Miguel), I was just finishing up a horrendous, too-long night.  Somewhere and somehow I had been stricken with food poisoning that I picked up hours or days prior. 

We made the bus trip to San Miguel without any problems, but I still had that queasy feeling, a “talkative” stomach, and was unusually tired for days.  Thankfully our new apartment was comfortable and had a peaceful, flower-filled & shady patio courtyard to relax in.

So, perhaps needless to say, San Miguel started out very slowly.  It’s funny how feeling a bit crummy will completely skew your impression of a place. 

It wasn’t until Sunday, Day #5 (that shall live in infamy), that my energy and appetite returned. 

Now I’m loving life and loving San Miguel.  Just as it should be.

The Streets

Both Guanajuato, where we had just come from, and San Miguel, where we are now, have charming cobblestone streets. They’re very picturesque. 

A big difference is that many streets in San Miguel consist of much larger, rounded rocks to pave the roads, as opposed to the smaller, flatter rocks used in Guanajuato.

The rocks here in San Miguel are between the size of a can of beans and a two-slot toaster, and everything in-between.  And yes, I happen to be looking at our kitchen countertop where a can of beans and a small toaster reside.

The rocks are irregularly positioned, and of various heights.  Some are high, others are very high, and the occasional low rock is thrown in for good measure.  Basically they’re all over the height chart. Most are rounded, well worn, and even a bit slick.

This makes for a very adventurous walk. It’s important to keep a keen eye on where you’re putting your foot, lest you get an unintended extreme close-up with said charming cobblestones.  

It’s like maneuvering over a wild creek bed while trying to dodge cars, motorcycles, buses, and other pedestrians, and still monitoring google maps on the cell so you don’t miss your turn. 

Get Out of the Sun

It’s been unusually hot (close to 90 degrees, which for this Seattle-gal is way-hot). We’re still up over 6,000 feet in this city of steep hills, so, at least for me, walking the streets is an undertaking involving plenty of huffing & puffing. 

Thankfully Steve doesn’t mind my stopping for pictures as my ever-present excuse for resting to catch my breath. 

We spent a lovely time enjoying the shade at Parque Benito Juárez. It’s a sprawling park right in the middle of town. There’s beautiful landscaping, walking paths, and a huge sports court where we saw men of all ages and abilities playing basketball and a group of mostly women in a boxing class.

Oh, and we saw lots and lots of people walking their dogs too. San Miguel is surely a dog town.

BOOM, BOOM

Luckily the evenings here in San Miguel cool way down, so it’s easy to get a good night’s sleep.  Except, as we learned, on a Sunday. 

The local government (we think?) set off thunderously loud fireworks starting around 4 am Sunday mornings, continuing every 15 to 20 to 30 minutes at irregular intervals (as far as we could tell in our sleep-deprived stupor) until around 6:30 am. 

The blasts are deafening.  No one, and I mean no one, could have slept through the onslaught.  

Ask any local why this happens and you’ll get a variety of answers, from warding off evil spirits to rousing folks for church to, “Why not, it’s Tuesday!” (or Sunday, or whatever). 

Yes, most Mexican towns, including San Miguel, have a serious love affair with fireworks. As far as I can tell, it’s just a tradition we have to graciously accept as a part of being in this paradise of a town.

The Day of 16,000 Steps

Our friendly neighbors, Monique and Richard, from near Toronto, who are fortunate enough to be here in San Miguel for 6 weeks, suggested we climb up the hill behind our building to a Botanical Garden high above the city.

We were promised a strenuous workout, beautiful views, and a look at magnificent estates that pay dearly for that view. 

Steve wanted a tough workout, so he headed out early in the morning.  After summiting, he texted me to meet him halfway down the hill at Mirador San Miguel de Allende, a well-known look-out point. 

I joined him courtesy of Uber, and after a much shorter climb we happily wandered through the million dollar plus hillside mansions, only drooling occasionally. 

Even though I had Uber’ed up the hill in the morning, that day turned into the “steps” winner of the trip, so far. Over 16,000 steps that day.  Almost 7 miles. 

Yes, we walked and walked and walked. I only wish my free iPhone pedometer could account for the hills.  I feel I should get 1.5 steps when climbing a hill. Or maybe double steps for the very steep hills.  It’s only fair.  

The Murals of Guadalupe 

Although we had already walked all over the hillside that morning, the days in San Miguel were winding down, and we still wanted to visit the Guadalupe neighborhood. Guadalupe is known for the masterfully painted and tiled murals throughout their neighborhood.  

True confessions, we had actually already been to the Guadalupe neighborhood on our first full day in town. That was Day #2 of the food poisoning saga, and, if you recall, I wasn’t feeling myself until Day #5.  So that didn’t really work out so well and we only saw a couple of peripheral murals.  It was quite disappointing (and tiring) and basically a bust.

So, I’m happy to report that the second try at Guadalupe was a huge success.

Habla Espanol?

San Miguel has a huge number of expats, mostly English speaking expats. In Guanajuato we’d see one English speaking couple a day, at most. 

When we arrived in San Miguel and sat at our first restaurant, English speakers filled almost every table around us. The difference was stark.  And even though there are so many English speakers, there’s still not many locals that speak English, which is fine, since we ARE in Mexico. 

My Spanish Interpreter 

Thankfully, I have my Spanish interpreter with me.  He’s on-call and always willing to interpret for me.  It’s especially helpful because basically all local waiters, shopkeepers, and grocery store clerks speak to me in Spanish.  They speak very quickly and mostly in multiple full sentences, you know, like starting a conversation.

Now, I did try to work on my Spanish using iPhone apps the past few months prior to our trip, but I have determined that it did no good whatsoever when encountering real Spanish speakers in real situations.  

The essential problem here is that my interpreter is my husband, and he knows no Spanish, except a few basic words. 

Here’s how it goes, every time:

1. The waiter (or whoever) approaches us and gives us a long commentary in Spanish. 
2. We just sit there and awkwardly stare at the speaker.
3. There’s a slight pause, then, invariably, Steve will look at me and interpret. 
4. My eyes bulge out a bit as I glare back at Steve, in that way that says, “What the heck are you even doing?”
5. Then I continue to just stare at Steve because it’s absolutely hilarious that he actually thinks he’s interpreting this.

After multiple instances just like this, Steve and I have agreed that he’s basically mansplaining AND from a foreign language. Too funny.

Steve, my editor, wants me to add that he is sometimes right (in his interpreting), so I will.  But I also want to add that an educated guess will usually yield results at least sometimes, and that he’s still not interpreting.  Just sayin’. 

A Historic City

One thing we don’t have to guess at is the beauty of San Miguel. San Miguel is a colonial-era city in Mexico’s central highlands known for its baroque Spanish architecture, thriving arts scene, and quaint charm. 

In the city’s historic, cobblestoned center lies the neo-Gothic church Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, whose dramatic pink towers rise above the main plaza, El Jardín Allende.  Many picture this iconic church when they think of San Miguel. 

The Templo de San Francisco church and the adjoining, peaceful plaza, are just a block from our apartment.  The church was built in 1779, so it’s been around a long while.  

Our walking tour leader told us of Templo de San Francisco’s surprising past.  The priests of the Templo learned to become Matadors.  Many gained great notoriety and became local celebrities. 

The beautiful plaza that now stands in front of the church consisted of a bull ring that hosted festive and popular bull-fights.  The church garnered great riches, and the talented priests became quite wealthy. 

Gaining personal wealth was against their vows, so the practice was eventually brought to a halt.  The churches still obtain great riches, but now it’s because San Miguel is a wedding destination that brings in the big bucks.

It’s a Feeling

We didn’t see any weddings while in town, but I can certainly understand why people would like to get married here.  There are so many picture-perfect views. 

On almost every block we found beautifully cascading Bougainvillea, with bright (often hot pink) flowers contrasting against the worn white or golden adobe walls. 

The cobblestone streets, the decorated doorways, the iconic churches, and the Jardin Allende with its perfectly trimmed Ficus trees and lush feel, all contribute to a place of true elegance and charm. 

San Miguel has a more upscale feel than other cities I’ve been to in Mexico. It’s a real, working town, but there’s an element of sophistication.

It’s an artist mecca with a substantial expat community that has brought in lots of dinero ($$) over the past 25 years.  Art galleries dot most streets.  The kind of art galleries where you need a credit card with a high limit if you plan on making a purchase.  

Mariachi’s sing in the Jardin Allende in the evenings. Local families with toddlers to teens gather every evening to enjoy each other and the shade or a sunset in whatever plaza they choose throughout the city. 

The abundance of places for people to gather and comfortably sit never ceases to amaze me (nothing like home in the suburbs of Seattle). 

And the multitude of places throughout the city to take a load-off is truly opportune when you’re a Gringo still trying to adapt to the high altitude while exploring this magical city.

WINS

While I was still recuperating from my food poisoning bout, Steve had a fun excursion to Cañada de la Virgen, a remote archaeological complex about an hour outside San Miguel. It featured various pyramid structures dating from the 7th century.

Lucky me missed that one step on the rooftop deck at the Inside Cafe, but somehow I managed to gracefully recover without falling flat on my face. 

Using “Nelly’s” Netflix account in our apartment to binge season #2 of Bridgerton during the dark days of food poisoning.  Saved us from trying to log-in to our own account in Spanish (harder than it sounds).

Note to self: Always log out of your Netflix account at a hotel or Airbnb.  And thanks Nelly!

LOSSES

Those confounding church bells that supposedly tell the time.  What the heck?  It takes a PhD in Mexican church bells to figure them out. Seriously. 

The number one loss, with nothing even coming close, was the incessant pre-dawn bomb-like fireworks on Sunday morning.  Hands down the worst. Come on, San Miguel, can’t the fireworks start around 9 am?